The present invention relates to a system and a method for piloting an aircraft, in particular a civil or military transport airplane.
It is known that the manual piloting of an aircraft by a pilot about its three piloting axes (or control axes), namely the pitch axis, the roll axis and the yaw axis, is carried out:                for the roll and pitch axes, by way of a control stick, in particular a mini-stick; and        for the yaw axis, mainly by way of two piloting members: a rudder bar and a helm.        
The helm (or “tiller”) which is, generally, present in the flight deck of large-size aircraft, makes it possible to steer a nose wheel when the aircraft is on the ground at reduced speed (during the rolling phase).
Moreover, the rudder bar, which the pilot actuates with his feet, makes it possible to steer the rudder of the aircraft, in the air and on the ground. It also allows the steering of the nose wheel on the ground, especially at high speed. The rudder bar is used, in a standard manner, especially for the following maneuvers:                precise alignment of the aircraft with the axis of the runway used, during the takeoff phase;        control of the aircraft in yaw on the ground on takeoff in the presence of disturbances (for example an engine fault causing an undesired yaw motion, or else crosswind tending to push the aircraft toward one of the edges of the runway);        in flight, turning compensation;        in flight, correction of the air sideslip caused by a thrust dissymmetry, especially in the case of a fault with one of the engines;        in a crosswind landing, if the aircraft nears the runway “crab” fashion, that is to say if its heading (the direction in which the aircraft is pointing) is different from its velocity vector (aligned with the axis of the runway), just before the wheels of the aircraft touch down on the ground, an alignment maneuver (or “de-crab” maneuver) which comprises bringing the heading of the aircraft back, at least in part, toward its velocity vector, so as to put the aircraft down with a reduced ground sideslip angle;        precise alignment of the aircraft with the axis of the runway used, during the rollout phase on landing.        
Furthermore, the rudder bar may be configured to comprise at one and the same time a control functionality for the rudder, such as aforementioned, and a braking functionality, the brake pedals then being integrated into this equipment.
This standard architecture for piloting the aircraft in relation to its piloting axes (or control axes), which comprises several piloting members including the rudder bar which is bulky, exhibits a relatively large bulkiness overall.